Stamp duty to increase by 30 %

The state government has announced an increase in stamp duty rate, details of which will be made available online today and implemented from January 2

It won't be a 'happy' new year for those looking to purchase a flat in the city. State Revenue Minister Balasaheb Thorat, who had earlier hinted at a rise in stamp duty rates in the ready reckoner of 2012 has confirmed that rates will increase by a minimum of 10 and a maximum of 30 per cent.

According to advocate Vinod Sampat, President Stamp Duty and Registration Payers Association, "The increased ready reckoner rates will have an impact on both the sellers and purchasers of flats. The seller will have to pay capital gains to the Income Tax and the purchaser will have to pay extra stamp duty. In cases of resale of old apartments, the ready reckoner value will be marginally higher than the agreement value. Due to this, the

burden of the additional stamp duty will have to be borne by the buyer of the old flat. Besides, there will be an impact on the capital gains taxcalculations under section 50 (c) of the Income Tax Act for the developer."

As reported in MiD DAY ('Your dream house just became a fantasy', December 20), owing to the slump, state authorities had intimated a rise in the ready reckoner rates, which is taken into consideration for calculating the stamp duty while registering a sale deed. "Unrealistic revenue targets set before the department by the state government is only resulting in harassment of flat purchasers," said Sampat, referring to the Rs 16,000 crore target set by the Stamp Duty authorities for 2011.

According to the ready reckoner record, properties in Mumbai city and suburbs are divided into 127 zones and 764 sub-zones. Similarly, properties across the state are divided into such zones and sub-zones. The revised stamp duty ready reckoner rates for Mumbai for 2012 shows an increase of 10 percent for properties in over 300 sub-zones, while 200 sub-zones will rise by 10 to 20 per cent, and over 100 sub-zones will increase by 20 to 30 per cent. Nine sub-zones will see the highest rate increase of 30 per cent.

Details about which areas fall into these zones will be updated today (January 1) on the government website that began functioning in June. Prior to that, rates were available only in huge volumes of books at registrar offices in the city. The ready reckoner rate was increased nominally every year till 2005. In 2007, the state hiked the calculus by 36-45 per cent and rates remained there till 2009. This year's increase comes in the face of the real estate market's astronomical growth.

During the Maharashtra assembly's winter session in Nagpur, political leaders had asked the Chief Minister and deputy CM not to increase the ready reckoner rate, however the same was taken into consideration before giving a final touch to the rate hike, said a senior revenue official from Mantralaya.